The present invention relates to medical-surgical devices for intubation, and in particular to endotracheal or other tubes intended to be inserted within the trachea of a patient for effecting artificial ventilation in surgical treatments requiring general anesthesia or in intensive resuscitation treatments.
In surgical treatments requiring general anesthesia and in intensive resuscitation treatments, it is frequently necessary and advisable to subject a patient to laryngotracheal anesthesia and/or anti-inflammatory and mucolytic treatments localized at the place of traumas resulting from the intubation or from the introduction of a foreign body constituting the endotracheal tube.
In accordance with a known technique, the administration of local anesthetics, anti-inflammatory and fluidizing drugs is effected by insertion of a suitable cannula into the trachea of the patient before intubation with the endotracheal tube, the cannula being then removed to permit the introduction of the tube. However, once the endotracheal tube has been inserted, the administration of drugs consisting of local anesthetics, anti-inflammatories and mucolytics cannot be repeated.
In fact, the endotracheal tubes in accordance with the prior art are differently shaped and devised as well as provided with many necessary devices such as secondary canalizations for various purposes, but none specifically intended for the effective administration of drugs such as local anesthetics, anti-inflammatories and fluidizers with constant intubation.